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signified by these words I beleue in god? The Bayliefe aunswered, I were my selfe verye myserable if I did not vnderstand that, for the least chylde here before you, doth vnderstande it well: and then beganne to repeate his faith in order, then the byshop being abashed sayde. I woulde not haue thought there had bene so great clerkes in Merindoll. The Bayliefe an-answered: the least of þe inhabitantes of Merindoll, can do it, yet more redely then I: but I desyre you to question with one or twoo of these young chyldren, to thende you may vnderstāde and knowe whether they be wel taught or no. But the byshop eyther knew not how to question with them or at the least would not.

Then one named Pieron Roy, remembring hym selfe, sayde vnto the byshop. My Lord, one of these chyldren wyll question with an other if you thinke it so good, and the bishop was cōtented. Then the chyldren began to question one with an other, with suche grace and autoritie as if he hadde bene an inquisitour of the fayth: and the chyldren one after an other aunswered so vnto the purpose that it was maruelous to heare. This was doone in the presence of many, and specially of foure religious men that came lately out of Paris. One of thē sayde vnto the byshop, I muste nedes confesse that I haue often bene at the common scholes in Paris, where I haue hard the disputacions of þe deuines, but yet I neuer learned so muche as I haue done by hearyng these young chyldren. Then one Wylliam Armant saide vnto hym, did ye neuer reade that whiche is wryttē in the xi. chapter of Mathew, where it is said: O father, Lorde of heauen and earth, I render thankes vnto thee, that thou hast bidden these thynges from the sage and wyse menne of the worlde, and hast reuelled them vnto young infantes. But beholde O father, suche was thy good wyll & pleasure. Then euery man marueyled at the redie and witty answeres of the chyldren of Merindole. The byshop causynge the straungers to go aparte, graciously & frendly declared vnto them of Merindole, sayinge: that there was no suche kynde of wickednes or euill in them, as men did suppose. Notwithstanding, for the cōtentation of them whiche were their persecutours, it is necessarie that they should make some abiuration, only in his presence without any notarie to make any memoriall thereof in wryting, but onely that the bayliefe and twoo other officers, should make a generall abiuration vnto hym in the name of them all, & in so doyng they should be loued & fauoured of all men, whiche nowe persecuted them, and that in thus doyng, they coulde not susteine any domage, for there should be no reporte thereof made, but only to the Pope, and to the hyghe court of parliament of Prouince. And if any mā wold turne it to their reproche,they myght deny it and saye they had made no abiuration. Also if any man in tyme to come, would alleage it against them to their hurt or domage, they myght vtterly denie it, because there were no letters testimonialles or other wrytynges to make the same appeare. For this purpose he desyred them to talke together to the ende there might be an end made in this matter without any further talke. The bayliefe and the twoo officers with diuerse other auncientes of the towne, aunswered, that they were fully resolued, not to consent or make any abiuration, howe soeuer it were to be done, except that (as before is sayde) they make it appeare vnto thē by the worde of God, that they haue holden or meyntained any heresie, marueyling muche that he would go about to perswade them to lie with God and the worlde. And albeit that all men by nature are lyers, yet thei haue learned by the worde of God, that they ought diligently to take heede in any case to lye, in any so small a matter. Also that they ought diligently to take heade, that their chyldren did not accustome or vse them selues to lye, and therfore punyshed them very sharpely when as they toke them with any lye, euen in case as if they hadde committed any robbery, for the deuil is a lier and the father of the lies.

Foxe follows closely here the narrative in Pantaleon, fol 138 rather than Crespin (Crespin/Benoist, p. 402). The individuals concerned with the attempts to enforce the arrêt of 18 November 1541 against the Vaudois of Mérindol were Jean Durandi, conseiller au parlement d'Aix-en-Provence; with Pietro Ghinucci, bishop of Cavaillon from 1541 and Antoine Filhol, archbishop of Aix-en-Provence from 1541. Their efforts were without success until the death of Chassanée as premier president of the court, and his successor. The local figures involved in these deliberations included André Meynard, the bailli ('baylife') of Mérindol and others.

Within a whyle after, þe byshop of Aix solicited maister Iohn Durandi Counceler of the court of parliament of Prouince, to execute the commission whiche was geuen hym, that is, to go vnto the place of Merindole, together with the Secretary of the sayde Court, and there in the presence of the byshop of Cauallion accompanied with a doctour of deuinitie, to declare the errours and heresies whiche the byshops pretended, the inhabitauntes of Merindole, be infected and intangled withall. And accordyng to theyr dutie to make it appeare by the worde of God, and so beyng conuicte, to make them abiure and renounce the sayde heresyes, whereupon the said Councellour Durandi, certified the daye that be woulde be present at Merindole, to the end and purpose, that none of the inhabitauntes should be absent. At the daye appointed, the sayde Counsellour, A B. of Cauallion, a doctour of deuinitie and a Secretarie, came vnto Merindole, where as was also present, diuers gentlemen and men of vnderstandyng, of all sortes to see this commission executed. Then they of Merindole aduertysed, that they shoulde not appeare at once, but that they should kepe them selues apart, and appeare as they should be called, in suche order and nomber as should be appoynted vnto them. After that Durandi, the byshop of Cauallion, the doctour of deuinitie, and the Secretarie, were[Back to Top]

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